Quonset Point, Rhode Island – May 9, 1926
On Sunday, May 9, 1926, two men took off from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in a bi-plane, and flew to the Quonset Point section of North Kingstown. As they flew over the campgrounds at Quonset in preparation of landing, the plane suddenly went into a nose dive and crashed. The crash was witnessed by quite a few people who all ran to the wreck. There they found the two men pinned inside, with the ruptured gas tanks leaking fuel, and set about extricating them from the wreckage.
The first man was easily removed, and carried to a waiting automobile, the driver of which took off towards a hospital in Providence. It took several strong men to pry the other man from the wreckage. This man was critically injured, and he too was carried to a waiting car and driven to Providence.
The drivers of the cars ran into certain problems along the way. This was a time before the interstate highway system, so they were forced to used normal roadways, which were clogged with traffic because it was a Sunday. They were also stopped several times by police officers due to speeding, but were allowed to continue once they understood the situation.
It was not conclusively determined who was at the controls of the aircraft at the time of the crash.
Both men survived their injuries.
The type of aircraft is not known.
At the time of this accident, Quonset Point was not a navy air base.
Source:
Providence Journal, “Woonsocket Men Badly Hurt In Airplane Crash”, May 10, 1926, pg. 1.
